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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Regents Contemplate the Budget & Admissions 1-19-11 - Part 1

I am going to be posting the Regents meeting audio from the session of 1-19-11, morning. This session was devoted to the budget outlook and a proposal to expand "holistic" admissions. It takes me some time to get the audios in shape for posting. I am going to post four which deal primarily with the budget and one which gets into the holistic discussion. When I have time, I will continue the posting.

However, the budget discussion - although no decisions were taken - may well be significant. If you listen to the speeches by Regent Gould, President Yudof, and Academic Council Chair Simmons, the picture is dismal. The comments from the Regents suggest that (most of) them are beginning to get it. This is not a one-time dip in the business cycle.

I think the true headline was realization by the Regents that the problem is long-term.

To be continued...

UPDATE: Here are excerpts from the San Francisco Chronicle version of the meeting:

Yudof warns of a more exclusive UC

Nanette Asimov, Jan. 20, 2011

SAN DIEGO -- The University of California will shut out tens of thousands of qualified students over the next decade as deep budget cuts force the nation's premier public university to become more exclusive, UC President Mark Yudof told the regents Wednesday in San Diego.UC is staring at a budget gap of at least $1 billion next year, half of which is expected to come from reduced state funding for 2011-12. The rest, Yudof said, will be from unavoidable expenses: higher negotiated salaries, rising energy costs, millions in pension contributions and more.

…"The moment is fast approaching when the university will no longer be able to guarantee admission to all California applicants who meet the eligibility criteria," the central tenet of the state's 50-year-old Master Plan for Higher Education, Yudof said.

…Yudof estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 qualified students will be turned away because UC won't have the money to educate them.

…Besides turning away students, UC is likely to lay off more employees next year, offer fewer courses, reduce financial aid and enroll more out-of-state students who pay higher tuition than in-state students, said Yudof, who will propose specific cuts in March after hearing from each campus' chancellor."I feel like a passenger on the Titanic being told by the captain how long it'll take before the boat sinks," lamented Regent Rex Hime, who suggested pushing Congress to tax Internet sales so the money could be set aside for higher education.Regent Sherry Lansing agreed that identifying new funding sources is crucial…